


Slayed in Manhattan

by ijemanja



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, How I Met Your Mother
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-20
Updated: 2007-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 04:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1632608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ijemanja/pseuds/ijemanja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Robin approves of these little slayer girls. They've got spunk. HIMYM/Buffy crossover, slight Robin/Giles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slayed in Manhattan

**Author's Note:**

> Written for tropie

 

 

 

 

Robin isn't big on the whole violence thing, in general. On the other hand, she's all about deadly force and the ability to employ it with extreme prejudice should the need ever arise. It hasn't, for her, so far. Well, not really. She doesn't think this accurately counts as...

Actually, she's not sure _what_ this counts as.

But, okay. Whatever.

In other words, she approves of these little slayer girls. They've got spunk.

And great fashion sense. Functional, yet stylish.

And that one called Kennedy just told her not to worry, that demon slime totally washes out with regular shampoo.

It's not as if it's even the worst thing she's ever had stuck in her hair on the job.

*

"Marshmallow?"

"Yes, Lillypad?"

"Did you see what I just saw?"

"Robin getting tackled by a big gnarly monster while reporting live from the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony?"

"Yeah, that."

"Why yes. Yes I did see it."

"Oh. Good."

*

(Five minutes earlier...)

Giles dislikes crowds. No, more specifically, he dislikes the sort of crowd that tends to gather at such events as this one. Crowds full of end-of-year cheer, full of noise, and so very, very full of Americans.

As he is jostled from one side and elbowed from another, he takes a large step back, trying to remember why he'd decided to come in the first place. Oh yes. His calling. And also Willow, who somehow talked him into it.

Magic powers had almost certainly been involved.

She's here somewhere, now, supposedly keeping an eye on the girls - not that he knows where _they_ are. Turning once again, he tries to catch a glimpse of anyone familiar through the throng, and finds a microphone in his face.

"And what about you, sir? Is this your first time watching the ceremony?"

"Oh, erm, well it is, actually, yes."

"Oh, an out-of-towner! How are you liking our fair city?"

"Well, it's... well, New York."

"Hell of a town, isn't it?"

"Quite."

His attention is suddenly drawn from the distracting spectre otherwise known as a camera lens pointed in his direction, at the sound of his name. A high, urgent tone recognisable even through the din of the surrounding crowds of Americans.

"Giles! Giles, look out!"

"This is Robin Scherbatsky, for Metro News-ahh!"

*

"Come patrolling with us, Giles," he breathes, as he polishes his glasses and sets them back in place. "Just like the good old days. Won't that be fun."

"On the bright side?" Willow rocks back on her heels, grinning. "You got on TV."

"Wonderful, we've alerted half of New York to the existence of the demon realm. All in a night's work."

"I don't know," Willow peers around and shrugs, "No one seems very interested."

It's true. The altercation has attracted very little, if any, attention. One thing he has found over the years is how very adept people are at seeing what they want to see, and ignoring what they don't.

"And," Willow continues, "The camera equipment says 'Metro News One'. I've never even heard of it - probably one of those tiny cable channels. I bet no one was even watching."

*

(Meanwhile...)

"Good, Lily? _Good?_ There are monsters at Rockefeller Center! Oh man, I _knew_ it."

*

"Hey Robin, you coming?" Dan says. "We're gonna get subs on the way back."

Being covered with slime, and not really all that hungry, Robin elects not to join Dan, the camera guy, and Steve, her segment producer - who's been sitting in the van this whole time - for the trip back to the station.

"So," she says, turning back to her new friends as Dan steps over the still-bubbling puddle of... whatever, and is on his way, "Vampire Slayers, did you say? Neat. And that was a vampire. That thing that dissolved into slime all over me. And my hair."

"Demon, actually, Slijmas demon. Oh, don't worry, the ah, the slime, it's perfectly harmless."

"Oh, harmless. Excellent."

She hadn't actually stopped to think it might be harm _ful_. 'Sticky and gross' was about as far as she'd gotten.

Mr British Accent is smiling at her now in a rueful sort of way, and, despite the whole demon slime issue, she finds herself smiling back.

"Hi, I'm Robin, by the way," she says, holding out her hand.

"Rupert, Rupert Giles. I imagine it must be a little disorienting, all of this."

"Just a tad."

"We're usually more circumspect, I assure you. Well, we do try. But the Slijmas Order of Ages attempted to use the Christmas tree here as a conduit for their hunter-goddess to escape her primordial hell dimension and, well," he shrugs.

Robin takes a moment to wonder whether she would have been up for covering the escape of a hunter-goddess from her hell dimension on live television.

She thinks of her camera crew, hitting Subway right about now, and, incongruously, of that time Ted made her watch both Ghostbusters movies despite knowing how much she dislikes Bill Murray. And decides 'probably not'.

Then her phone rings.

*

"Hello?"

"Hey, Robin."

"Oh, hi Lil. Hey, I was going to text you - I'm at the tree-lighting thing? And there's a girl here who looks just like you. Only her hair is the colour yours was when I first met you, and really short."

"Ooh, short curly? Because my hair freaks out a little when it gets too far above my shoulders."

"More short spiky?"

"Not -"

"No. Not bad East Village spiky."

"Oh, then that would look really good on me."

"Yeah, and I think she has a girlfriend, too."

"My doppelganger is cooler than me. Figures."

"If it helps, your boobs are bigger."

"Well that does help, thank you. Oh, Robin? Hold on, Marshall wants to talk to you."

"Yes, Marshall does want to talk to Robin - only about a little case of _monster infestation_ , not something important like _hair-dos_."

"Uh, Marshall?"

" _Robin_."

"Speaking, hi."

"Robin, we saw it."

"Saw what?"

"Your news segment, Robin. We were watching."

"Oh. Right. That. Could you hold on for just a minute? ...Okay, I'm back. Marshall? What you saw, was a college prank. A guy, uh, dressed up in a costume, and tried to get on camera. Then he tripped, and fell. On me."

"Robin."

"Yes, Marshall?"

"Did the monsters tell you to say that?"

"No. The monsters did not tell me to say that."

"Are the monsters there with you right now?"

"Marshall, could you please put Lily back on the phone?"

"All right, Robin. If that is your real name. I'll let you talk to Lily."

"Okay, thanks."

"Hey, sorry. So, college prank?"

"Totally. Yes. Those crazy kids. How's Marshall?"

"Don't worry, he'll let it go - well, maybe in a few days. Or, you know, years?"

"He's researching monsters on the internet right now, isn't he."

"Yeah. Hey, is the small-breasted version of me still there?"

"Yeah, she's doing some kind of protective spe- uh, hey, you know what? I have to go. My uh... producer wants me for something."

" _Steve_? Oh, hey! You're going to hang out with the chick who stole my face, aren't you? You _do_ think she's cooler than me."

"No! Lily, I don't think she's cooler than you. And she certainly doesn't have super magic powers of any kind. Okay?"

"Oh, okay. Bye, Robin."

"Bye, Lil."

*

Robin watches as her drink sparkles and then turns from amber to a pretty pinky-purple colour.

"You know," she says, "Maybe it's the pink scotch talking, but you are so much cooler than my friend Lily."

The girl who stole Lily's face waves her hand. "Oh, it was just a little charm. I'm showing off."

"And anyway you're a _reporter_ ," says Janey. Janey is a kid who looks younger than her little sister. She's also the one who tackled the demon who tackled _her_ , and then 'slayed' it. " _That's_ cool."

"Thank you. It is cool, isn't it." She grins widely. And yes, clearly it is her beverage doing the talking here, because nothing about being a reporter for a fourth rate cable news channel is cool compared to slaying vampires and hanging out in demon bars with a posse of teenage superheros. Not to mention a freaking _witch_ , and... well, Rupert.

Okay. The guy who currently doesn't seem to know whether to be more distressed about his charges trying to convince the very scaly bartender that they're twenty-one, or about how one of the dudes with horns from the table in the corner just put Justin Timberlake on the jukebox? There's got to be more to that story.

He's actually quite good looking, Robin thinks, in a bookish sort of way. Plus, there's the accent.

Yes. Definitely the chattiest scotch she's ever met. Of any hue.

Then again, it is the most depressing time of the year. And while sure, maybe he's a little older than the guys she usually goes out with, and yes, he's apparently a leader in the fight against the legions of darkness, on the other hand, she really needs a date for her office holiday party next week.

"So Rupert, let me ask you something. Do you own a suit?"

*

"Of course, you know what this means."

"Having known you lo these many years, Marshall, I think it's safe to say I do."

"You can go ahead and mock. Meanwhile, the monsters have gotten to Robin. She's one of them, now."

"Better than the face-stealing aliens getting to her, though, right?"

"...What?"

 

 

 


End file.
